Heat from Compost

A Compost Story by Sam Rogers

RMC Green Team
Outline

 Background
 Project – extracting heat from compost
 History
 Two prototypes
 Results
 Future work
 Questions and comments
Who We Are

 The Royal Military College (RMC) Green

Team
 Program supervisor – Major Nicholas
Vlachopoulos
 Project managers / engineers – Sam Rogers
and Ted Bailey
 Summer student Mark Davis
The Green Team
 Department of National Defence
 Environmental stewardship
 Mission – promote DND as environmental
leader
 Projects / capabilities
 Resource management
 Water, wastewater, stormwater, solid waste
 Energy management
 Savings, management, planning, sustainability
The Project Begins

 Two aerobic, in-vessel composters at

CFB Trenton
 Compost the Base’s food waste
 Roads and Grounds manager
 Noticed the large amounts of heat generated
 Can we save energy and $$$?
 Called in the Green Team!
 Here’s what we found
The Composters

 Two composters (one currently not used)

 1500 and 2000 lbs/day capacity
 Manufactured by Wright Environmental
 In-vessel
 Step feed, conveyer system
 One tonne 3 times/week
 28 day retention cycle
 Compost is cured in piles
Composter Schematic
 Three separate zones
 Compost moves on palates
 Pushed through with a hydraulic ram
 Fans control air circulation
 Biofilter removes odors
Where is the Heat?
 First chamber
 Hot composting
 Compost 55-70 ºC
 Compost cooler in other chambers
 Freezes at the outlet in the winter!

 Historical data
Where Will the Heat Go?
 Possible sources
 Heating the compost building
 Building has inefficient electric space heaters
 Often left open
 Heating nearby hot water tanks
 Use 1-2 tanks/ day on-site
 Greenhouse boiler
 Greenhouse near composters
 Shut down in winter to save energy
How Will We Get Heat?

 Design considerations
 Easy to operate
 Large forces in the compost
 Idea #1 – “Heat Spike Method”
 Direct heat transfer
 Run water through pipes embedded in
compost
Heat Spike Method

 Direct heat transfer

 From the compost to water inside the pipes
 Removable
 As compost palates are moved through,
pipes are retracted
 Relatively inexpensive
 Pipes, a pump, a ram system
Composter
Side View
“Spikes”
Set of Spikes
Pipe detail
Spikes withdrawn
Spikes inserted
Isometric View
Prototype – Heat Spike

 Let’s test it!

 Prototype built with materials from RMC
 One spike, ½ inch copper pipe
 Run water through and note temperature
change
 Change flow rate
 Timed tests
Heat Spike
Prototype
Temperature
Measurement
The “C” Team
Testing
So who’s
going in?
The summer
student!
Spike inserted
Spike

Thermometer
Phew!
Results – Heat Spikes

 Very encouraging!
 Large temperature changes at low flow rates
 5°C / meter of pipe at 0.42 L/min
 Napkin calculation
 10m of pipe can heat 600L of 4°C water to 50°C
per day!
 Significant heat!
 Is this energy transfer sustainable?
45 Minutes
Results

 Heat transfer rate rapidly decreases

 ~0.5°C after 1 hr

 Why?
 Compost an insulator
 Condensation on pipes
 Killing the process
 Investigating other reason as well
Conclusions?

 Back to the drawing board

 Other ways of getting heat?
 Air above compost was warm
 35-50°C in 1st chamber
How Will We Get Heat Redux

 Thermosyphons
 Heat pipes
 Isobars by Acrolab!
 Isobar maintains a constant temperature
over its surface
 Heat transfer
Isobar Method

 Mount water tank on composter exterior

 Mount isobars on composter interior
 Drill holes and “plug” isobars into water tank
Isobars heat
water in tank
Water
pumped to hot
water tank or
boiler
Isobar Prototype
 Purchased
 Water cooler
 Isobar
 Prototype
 Drilled a hole
 Inserted isobar
 Attached thermometers
 Ready to go!
Cooler

Isobar
Isobar
Thermometers
Ambient Temperature 46.5 °C
Results

 9L of water heated 18.5 °C in 2 ½ hrs by

one isobar
 Another napkin calculation
 5 isobars, 200L tank
 Tank would increase ~40 °C per day
 Lots of assumptions made!
Project future
 Testing
 Zone 1 air temperature (especially in the winter)
 More isobar testing
 Flowing water
 Colder water
 Effects on chamber temperature, fan use
 Working conditions
 Moisture, blades, etc.
 Getting the water to its destination
Future Part 2
 If testing results are positive
 Build a working prototype
 Test

 If final prototype works, construct a fully

functional device

 Save some energy!

Questions and Comments

 Thank you!

 Contact
 srogers@rmc.ca